Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Reading Complex Words pp 295–314Cite as

Reading aloud polysyllabic words

  • Chapter

Part of the book series: Neuropsychology and Cognition ((NPCO,volume 22))

Abstract

Although a great deal is known about the naming process of monosyllabic words (see for instance Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993; Norris, 1994; Plaut, McClelland, Seidenberg, & Patterson, 1996; Seidenberg & McClelland, 1989; Zorzi, Houghton, & Butterworth, 1998), very few studies have been devoted to the naming process of polysyllabic words (see however, Ans, Carbonnel, & Valdois, 1998; Jared & Seidenberg, 1990). Indeed, most of the studies on word naming concern monosyllabic words. This is a paradox since monosyllabic words represent less than 10 % of the lexicon and therefore can be considered as the exception, whereas polysyllabic words should be studied more extensively. The present chapter addresses explicitly the processes involved in generating the pronunciations of polysyllabic words from their written forms. In particular, the focus of the present chapter is not lexical access per se but is the process of producing a phonological code for polysyllabic words. In this chapter, we will argue that the syllable is a likely processing unit of reading aloud polysyllabic words. We will present empirical evidence and then we will discuss different models of polysyllabic words.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Ans, B., Carbonnel, S., & Valdois, S. (1998). A connectionist multiple–trace memory model for polysyllabic word reading. Psychological Review, 105, 678–723.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bachoud–Lévi, A–C, Dupoux, E., Cohen, L., & Mehler, J. (1998). Where is the length effect? A cross–linguistic study of speech production. Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 331–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowey, J. A. (1990). Orthographic onsets and rimes as functional units of reading. Memory & Cognition,18, 419–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carreiras, M., Alvarez, C.J., & De Vega, M. (1993). Syllable frequency and visual word recognition in Spanish. Journal of Memory and Language, 32, 766–780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coltheart, M. (1978). Lexical access in simple reading tasks. In G. Underwood (Ed.), Strategies ofinformation processing (pp. 151–216). London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud: Dual–route and parallel–processing–distributed approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589–608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, A. (1997). The syllable’s role in the segmentation of stress languages. Language and CognitiveProcesses, 12, 839–845.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, A., Mehler, J., Norris, D., & Segui, J. (1986). The syllable’s differing role in the segmentation of French and English. Journal of Memory and Language, 25, 385–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eriksen, C.W., Pollack, M.D., & Montague, W.E. (1970). Implicit speech: Mechanism in perceptual coding? Journal of Experimental Psychology, 84, 502–507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L. (in press). Reading aloud polysyllabic words and non–words: The syllabic–length effect reexamined. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., & Grainger, J. (1992). Phonology and orthography in visual word recognition: Evidence from masked non-word priming. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 42A, 353–372.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., & Grainger, J. (1993). The time–course of orthographic and phonological code activation in the early phases of visual word recognition. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 31, 119–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., & Grainger, J. (1994). Effects of orthography are independent of phonology in masked form priming. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47A, 365–382.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., & Grainger, J. (1996). List context effects on masked phonological priming in the lexical decision task. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 3, 515–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., & Segui, J. (1998). The syllable’s role in speech production: Are syllables chunks, schémas, or both? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 5, 253–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., Grainger, J., & Segui, J. (1994). A study of masked form priming in picture naming and word naming. Memory & Cognition, 22, 431–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., Segui, J., & Grainger, J. (1996). Masked priming of word and picture naming: The role of syllabic units. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 708–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., Segui, J., & Humphreys, G.W. (1997). The syllable’s role in word naming. Memory &Cognition, 25,458–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forster, K.I., & Chambers, S. (1973). Lexical access and naming time. Journal of Verbal Learning andVerbal Behavior, 12, 627–635.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forster K.I., & Davis, C. (1984). Repetition priming and frequency attenuation in lexical access. Journalof Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10, 680–698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forster, K.I., & Davis, C. (1991). The density constraint on form–priming in the naming task: Interference effects from a masked prime. Journal of Memory and Language, 30,1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frederiksen, J.R., & Kroll, J.F. (1976). Spelling and sound: Approaches to the internal lexicon. Journal ofExperimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2, 361–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grainger, J. (1990). Word frequency and neighborhood frequency effects in lexical decision and naming. Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 228–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grainger, J., & Ferrand, L. (1996). Masked orthographic and phonological priming in visual word recognition and naming: Cross–task comparisons. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 623–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grainger, J., & Jacobs, A.M. (1996). Orthographic processing in visual word recognition: A multiple read–out model. Psychological Review, 103, 518–565.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, L. (1982). Orthography and word recognition in reading. London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, A.M., Grainger, J., & Ferrand, L. (1995). The incremental priming technique: A method for determining within–condition priming effects. Perception & Psychophysics, 57, 1101–1110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, A.M., Rey, A., Ziegler, J., & Grainger, J. (1998). MROM–P: An interactive activation, multiple read–out model of orthographic and phonological processes in visual word recognition. In J. Grainger & A.M. Jacobs (Eds.), Localist connectionist approaches to human cognition. Hillsdale, NJ; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jared, D. (1997). Evidence that strategy effects in word naming reflect changes in output timing rather than changes in processing route. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, andCognition, 23, 1424–1438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jared, D., & Seidenberg, M.S. (1990). Naming multi –syllabic words. Journal of ExperimentalPsychology: Human Perception and Performance, 16, 92–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jared, D., McRae, K., & Seidenberg, M.S. (1990). The basis of consistency effects in word naming. Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 687–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klapp, S.T., & Wyatt, E.T. (1976). Motor programming within a sequence of responses. Journal of MotorBehavior, 8, 19–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klapp, S.T., & Erwin, C.I. (1976). Relation between programming time and duration of the response being programmed. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2, 591–598.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klapp, S.T., Anderson, W.G., & Berrian, R.W. (1973). Implicit speech in reading reconsidered. Journalof Experimental Psychology, 100, 368–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loftus, G.R. (1993). A picture is worth a thousand p values: On the irrelevance of hypothesis testing in the microcomputer age. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 25, 250–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lupker, S.J., Brown, P., & Colombo, L (1997). Strategic control in a naming task: Changing routes or changing deadlines? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 570–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mason, M. (1978). From print to sound in mature readers as a function of reader ability and two forms of orthographic regularity. Memory & Cognition, 6, 568–581.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mewhort, D.J.K., & Beal, A.L. (1977). Mechanisms of word identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 3, 629–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millis, M.L. (1986). Syllables and spelling units affect feature integration in words. Memory andCognition, 14, 409–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norris, D. (1994). A quantitative, multiple levels model of reading aloud. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20, 1212–1232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, CA., & Bell, L.C. (1991). Phonemic activation during the first 40 ms of word identification: Evidence from backward masking and priming. Journal of Memory and Language, 30,473–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plaut, D.C., McClelland, J.L., Seidenberg, M.S., & Patterson, K. (1996). Understanding normal and impaired word reading: Computational principles in quasi–regular domains. Psychological Review,103, 56–115.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prinzmetal, W., Hoffman, H., & Vest, K. (1991). Automatic processes in word perception: An analysis from illusory conjonctions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception andPerformance, 17, 902–923.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinzmetal, W., Treiman, R., & Rho, S.H. (1986). How to see a reading unit. Journal of Memory andLanguage, 25, 461–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rapp, B.C. (1992). The nature of sub–lexical orthographic organization: The bigram trough hypothesis examined. Journal of Memory and Language, 31, 33–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rastle, K., & Coltheart, M. (1998). Whammies and double whammies: The effect of length on non–word reading. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 5, 277–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, J.T.E. (1976). The effect of stimulus attributes upon latency of word recognition. BritishJournal of Psychology, 67, 315–325.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiller, N.O. (1998). The effect of visually masked syllable primes on the naming latencies of words and pictures. Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 484–507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Segui, J., Dupoux, E., & Mehler, J. (1990). The role of the syllable in speech segmentation, phoneme identification, and lexical access. In G.T.M. Altmann (Ed.), Cognitive models of speech processing: Psycholinguistic and computational perspectives. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidenberg, M.S. (1987). Sub–lexical structures in visual word recognition: Access units or orthographic redundancy? In M. Coltheart (Ed.), The psychology of reading, Vol. XII of Attention and Performance (pp. 245–263). Hillsdale: LEA

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidenberg, M.S. (1989). Reading complex words. In G. Carlson & M. Tanenhaus (Eds.), Linguisticstructure in language processing(pp. 53–105). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidenberg, M.S., & McClelland, J.L. (1989). A distributed, developmental model of visual word recognition and naming. Psychological Review, 96, 523–568.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spoehr, K.T. (1978). Phonological encoding in visual word recognition. Journal of Verbal Learning andVerbal Behavior, 17, 127–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spoehr, K.T. (1981). Word recognition in speech and reading: Toward a single theory of language processing. In P. D. Eimas & J.L. Miller (Eds.), Perspectives in the study of speech (pp. 239–282). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spoehr, K.T., & Smith, E.E. (1973). The role of the syllables in perceptual processing. CognitivePsychology, 5,71–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone, G.O., & Van Orden, G.C. (1993). Strategic control of processing in word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 19,144–774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taft, M. (1979). Lexical access via an orthographic code: The Basic Orthographic Syllabic Structure (BOSS). Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 21–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tousman, S., & Inhoff, A. (1992). Phonology in multi–syllabic word recognition. Journal ofPsycholinguistic Research, 21, 525–544.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R. (1986). The division between onsets and rimes in English syllables. Journal of Memory andLanguage, 25, 476–491.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R. (1990). To what extent do orthographic units in print mirror phonological units in speech? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research , 23, 91 –110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R., & Chafetz, J. (1987). Are there onset– and rime–like units in written words? In M. Coltheart (Ed.), Attention and Performance XII: The Psychology of reading(pp. 281 –298). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R., & Kessler, B. (1995). In defense of an onset–rime syllable structure of English. Languageand Speech, 38, 127–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R., & Zukowski, A. (1988). Units in reading and spelling. Journal of Memory and Language,27, 466–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weekes, B.S. (1997). Differential effects of number of letters on word and non–word naming latency. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 50A, 439–456.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler, J.C., Ferrand, L., Jacobs, A.M., Rey, A., & Grainger, J. (in press). Visual and phonological codes in letter and word recognition: Evidence from incremental priming. Quarterly Journal ofExperimental Psychology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zorzi, M., Houghton, G., & Butterworth, B. (1998). Two routes or one in reading aloud? A connectionist dual–process model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24, 1131–1161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zwitserlood, P., Schriefers, H., Lahiri, A., & van Donselaar, W. (1993). The role of syllables in the perception of spoken Dutch. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition,19, 260–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Psychologie Expérimentale, CNRS and Université René Descartes, 71, Avenue Edouard Vaillant, 92100, Boulogne-Billancourt, France

    Ludovic Ferrand

Authors
  1. Ludovic Ferrand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Juan Segui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ludovic Ferrand .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Egbert M. H. Assink

  2. University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Dominiek Sandra

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ferrand, L., Segui, J. (2003). Reading aloud polysyllabic words. In: Assink, E.M.H., Sandra, D. (eds) Reading Complex Words. Neuropsychology and Cognition, vol 22. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3720-2_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3720-2_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-3397-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-3720-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation